Samuel Johnson Quotes

As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.

In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.

Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable.

Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.

If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary be not idle.

Silence propagates itself, and the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find anything to say.

If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone. A man should keep his friendships in constant repair.

There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified and new prejudices to be opposed.

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.

A cucumber should be well-sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.

Don`t think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.

People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.

Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity.

It is better to live rich than to die rich.

We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us.

A man is very apt to complain of the ingratitude of those who have risen far above him.

Do not accustom yourself to use big words for little matters.

Men have been wise in many different modes; but they have always laughed the same way.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords.

Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.

Every quotation contributes something to the stability or enlargement of the language.

Such seems to be the disposition of man, that whatever makes a distinction produces rivalry.

Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

The world is not yet exhaused; let me see something tomorrow which I never saw before.

Hope is necessary in every condition.

Of all the griefs that harass the distrest, Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.

Suspicion is not less an enemy to virtue than to happiness; he that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly become corrupt

Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged.

Large offers and sturdy rejections are among the most common topics of falsehood

Those who attain any excellence commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often granted upon easier terms.

Wine gives a man nothing... it only puts in motion what had been locked up in frost.

An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.

The inevitable consequence of poverty is dependence

Music is the only sensual pleasure without vice

Our aspirations are our possibilities.

Controversies merely speculative are of small importance in themselves, however they may have sometimes heated a disputant, or provoked a faction

Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it.

All intellectual improvement arises from leisure

Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.

Many things difficult to design prove easy to performance.

Friendship is not always the sequel of obligation

Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.

Credulity is the common failing of inexperienced virtue; and he who is spontaneously suspicious may justly be charged with radical corruption

Admiration begins where acquaintance ceases

What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.

Abstinence is as easy to me, as temperance would be difficult.

A jest breaks no bones

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it.

Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can call her own

Prejudice, not being founded on reason, cannot be removed by argument

Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little.

When once a man has made celebrity necessary to his happiness, he has put it in the power of the weakest and most timorous malignity, if not to take away his satisfaction, at least to withhold it. His enemies may indulge their pride by airy negligence and gratify their malice by quiet neutrality.

Merit is much more cheaply acknowledged than rewarded

Moderation is commonly firm, and firmness is commonly successful

There are few minds to which tyranny is not delightful

Inconsistencies cannot both be right; but, imputed to man, they may both be true

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Whoever envies another confesses his superiority

Human benevolence is mingled with vanity, interest, or some other motive

A fishing pole is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool on the other

Words are but the signs of ideas.

Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.